Talent Plus Luck Equals Old Mill Sweep

Patriots Boys, Girls Repeat As County Track Champions

While Old Mill's girls demonstrated what depth can do in Saturday's Anne Arundel County track meet, the Patriots boys team showed what hard work and a little luck can do as both won county titles.

The girls had just one individual champion -- freshman Raina Domneys, who jumped 35 feet, 2 inches to win the triple jump -- but they scored points in every event but two for their 11th straight county title, 119-110, over second-place Meade.

Domneys was third and teammate Amy Tolley second in the hurdles, while Michelle Smith was second in both the shot put and discus. Domneys also finished third in the long jump.

Both Meade coach Jay Cuthbert and Old Mill coach Ron Evans knew there was little margin for error for either team in the boys title chase. Still, each team made several.

But the mistake that counted most occurred off of the track and wasn't made by the Mustangs or the Patriots. Evans left the Annapolis High stadium thinking his boys had failed to win their second straight county title, as meet officials had the Mustangs winning.

But late Saturday evening, meet director Fred Stauffer discovered that a Severna Park runner was awarded the six points that belonged to Old Mill's Scott Boetig for finishing third in the 3,200-meter run. The result was a 135-132 victory for Old Mill.

"In the high jump wewent 2-3-4 and we scored in everything except the discus," said Cuthbert. "But we gave Old Mill a lot of chances. We only went 1-3-4 in the pole vault, which was not the order we expected. Brian Garalde of Chesapeake was second."

The Mustangs had the top three leaps in the pole vault, but Jeff Miller (13-3), Bryan Glock (12-6) and Eric Miller (12-6) captured only first, third and fourth. The Patriots, meanwhile, had hoped for 15 points in the triple jump, with Shawn Craig and Corey Dorsey ranking as two of the county's best -- but neither placed in the top three.

For Meade, Anthony Lowe placed second in thelong jump and the 110 hurdles and third in the 100 --. Derrick Barr was second in the high jump and Phil Raynor third in the triple.

"We didn't do well at all in the triple, and when you lose that many in one event, you have to nickel and dime your way and that's what we did," said Evans, whose boys have now won 11 titles. "I'm very proud of the boys' effort."

Rocky McMillan was a triple winner for the Patriots, taking the 110- and 300 hurdles and running the leadoff leg of the championship 400 relay.

"I went to sleep dreaming about thehurdles and I came out here and ran my dream," said McMillan, whose14.5 110 clocking was two seconds off his personal best. "This is myfirst year being leadoff for the 400 so I was having trouble gettingout. I practiced hand-offs a lot."

Dorsey won the long jump in 22-2 1/2 for Old Mill and Brian Evans took titles in the shot put (48-9) and discus (144-5).

Chesapeake's Mattie Cymek was just behind Evans with her discus toss of 142-10, and it was enough to obliterate the 14-year-old county meet record of 121-10 set by Severna Park's Lisa Moore. Cymek, who also won the shot put title in 37-9 1/2, gave thestate's second-longest discus effort. Only a 1985 toss by Westminster's Shirl Dorsey (147-1-- is longer.

Broadneck's third-place boys were a mild surprise, with Bruins coach Jerry Kipel getting big points from Dave Wall and Rick Chambers, who finished 1-2 in the 3,200 run, and the championship 3,200 and 800 relay teams.

North County junior Adrienne McCray won three gold medals, nearly breaking two records along the way. McCray's leap of 17-10 in the long jump eclipsed the old record of 17-1 1/2, and she edged South River's Kim Fullmer (44.4) in a 300 hurdles photo finish, crossing the line in 44.3. The girls record (44.2) was set in 1983.

After the race, the two fatigued runners fell into an embrace.

"We got out really fast, andKim and I were together the whole way, hitting all the hurdles together," said McCray, who won the 400 -- in 59.2. "I felt she had me on the turn but I started making it up a little bit. I got her at the lean."

Glen Burnie's Tamicka Maynard was the only quadruple gold medalist of the day, pacing the Gophers girls to third place by winning both the 100 and 200 --es and anchoring their winning 400 and 800 relay teams.

"After running a hard 200 in the relays when I didn't have to, I didn't expect to do as good in the open 200," said Maynard, a junior, who teamed with Kathy Biamby, Tamicka Stringfellow and Sonia Martin in the relays. "My team had already given me a big lead, so I didn't really have to run (the last leg of the 400 relay) as hard as I did, but it didn't bother me."

Said Glen Burnie coach Aaron Walker, "She's just an unbelievable talent. But we have more than just one sprinter. Most of them are underclassmen, so the future looks good."